4. The Castle

I trudged up the stairs, sweating. Why is there always so much walking when you go on tours? I grumbled to myself. Why can't they make a train or a cart to drive us in. I came here to relax, not to exercise. I returned my attention to the guide as he began to inform us about some bloody tools lying around the torture room. A specific one caught my eye. It looked like handcuffs, only there were spikes on the inside where the wrist would touch the metal. I reached out, and slightly brushed the top of it with my finger, and I felt a cold electric current swept through me. I got a strange feeling, as I looked around at my friends and the tourists. I wanted them out. This was my place! Then, as quickly as it came, it vanished. I shook my head, and turned back to the weird handcuffs. Then, I noticed blood staining the spikes, and I turned away quickly, feeling nauseous. I followed the guide to a room filled with display cases, which were filled with artifacts. The guide invited us to look around, and I started to, when I noticed my friends gathering into a small group in the corner. Curiosity overcame me, and I joined them.

"What are you doing?" I asked them.

"I was going to tell them a true story," said Will. "So, I went on a camping trip with Jake, Victor, Kaitlyn, Vanessa, and Sallie a few weeks ago, when Vanessa died. We were talking, and then Jake told us how Chloe died. According to him, Rose, Chloe, Sarah, and him had gone camping together, next to the cemetery. Rose dared Chloe to go vandalize a headstone. They all started to argue about ghosts, and then Chloe left to go do it. They were waiting for her, when they heard a scream. They raced to the graveyard, but Chloe was already dead. But get this. There was no sign of body damage at all," he ended creepily.

"But what happened to Vanessa?" asked Nina.

"Kaitlyn wanted to break into Ramona Mansion, but Vanessa didn't want to. Kaitlyn taunted her, so she relented," he said. "She even volunteered to go first. When, we got there, Jake broke the window and Vanessa slipped in. We waited for and bit, and then Kaitlyn went in. Then we heard a scream. We started to rush in, but Kaitlyn jumped out and told us to run. We kept running, and Kaitlyn was sobbing the whole time. We stopped about a few yards away, and tried to get Kaitlyn to tell us what happened. She just cried, so us boys went back. We got in there and found Vanessa dead. And get this. Nobody damage at all. The police were baffled. There's more. Kaitlyn went in, and she saw something, but she won't tell us." We stood there in silence. I was about to speak up, but was interrupted by the guide.

"Let's go, it's time to go and see where a famous poet died because of his brother's jealousy," he drawled, leading us out of the room. As we walked down the narrow stone hall, I noticed a large wooden door, that looked very sturdy, considering how old it was. It was thick, and had a little window with bars covering it. Through the bars, I could see a small staircase spiraling upward. I was about to join the group again up the hall, when Ryan grabbed my arm and dragged me into the shadows.

"What are you doing?"I hissed as the group went around the corner and out of sight.

"We," said Ryan, gesturing toward Jake, Avery, Nina, and Faith, who were crawling out of their hiding spots. "Are going to go up that staircase." He gestured again, this time at the wooden door I had been looking at. "My pamphlet says it's haunted, Fiona," he said, excited. I was too, now. I always loved scary things and scaring myself. Grinning, I ran and threw open the door. Luckily, it wasn't locked.

"Come on," I called back to my friends, and I raced up the stairs. I reached a room that held a simple cot, and had a small window. I jumped onto the cot, and looked out the window. From here, I could tell that I was in one of the towers. However, as I was about to investigate more, I felt something behind me. I froze, a horrible feeling settling in my gut. Waves of cold electricity ran down my back, setting my nerves on fire. Then, a sense of doom replaced the horror. I wasn't getting out of this. I don't know how, but I knew. So, bracing myself for the worst, I turned to face whatever was behind me.